Notes There are two other versions of this pastel portrait by Carriera: one in the collection of Lord Walpole at Wolterton, which has been considered the prime version; one in a private collection, London, formerly belonging to Lord Boyne and sold in his house sale in 1956 to Ivor Worsfold, London.
Provenance ?Nathaniel Clements, The Ranger's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin (probably until d. 1777); his son, Robert Clements, later 1st Earl of Leitrim, The Ranger's Lodge (probably 1777–82; inv., 1782 or shortly before) and Killadoon, Celbridge, County Kildare (1782–d. 1804); Earls of Leitrim, Killadoon (from 1804; inv. 1856); by descent to Henry T. W. Clements, Killadoon (by 1957–d. 1974); his great-nephew, Charles Clements, Killadoon (1974–2002; on loan to J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 2000–2001; sale, Sotheby's, New York, January 24, 2002, no. 54, to Sayn-Wittgenstein for MMA)
References C. Kingsley Adams. "Portraiture Problems and Geneology." The Geneaologist's Magazine 14, no. 11 (September 1964), pp. 387–88, explains how the sitter for three pastels by Rosalba, including the present work, came to be identified as Horace Walpole and that he is instead the 2nd Viscount Boyne.Walpole Society 42 (1968–70), pp. 27–28, no. C.5, pl. 28c, identifies the sitter as Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne.National Trust Studies 1979 (1978), pp. 14, 16, notes that a pastel portrait of William Burton, later Conyngham, by Mengs was framed in the eighteenth century as pendant to a version of Rosalba's portrait of Lord Boyne [this picture]; suggests that the Mengs pastel [now J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu] was commissioned as a pair to Rosalba's, probably for the 1st Earl of Leitrim.Rosalba Carriera . Turin, 1988, p. 311, no. 268, fig. 235, calls it "una bellissima replica" of the London pastel; gives incorrect dimensions.Burlington Magazine 131 (December 1989), p. 857, points out that Sani omits what was probably the first version, at Wolterton.Venetian Baroque and Rococo Paintings . Exh. cat., Walpole Gallery. London, 1990, p. 30, calls the Walpole pastel clearly the prime version.Anton Raphael Mengs 1728–1779 and his British Patrons . Exh. cat.London, 1993, p. 58, supports Russell's view that a pastel by Mengs of William Burton Conyngham (private collection) was made to match a pastel of Lord Boyne by Rosalba Carriera [this work]; comments on their matching frames and on the rarity of pastel for grand tour portraits.in Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth Century . Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1996, p. 55.A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701–1800 . New Haven, 1997, p. 116, mentions a pastel of Boyne by Rosalba Carriera (private collection) and gives biographical details and bibliography.Anton Raphael Mengs, 1728–1779 . Munich, 1999–2003, vol. 1, p. 274, states that the frames for this portrait and Mengs's portrait of Conyngham at Killadoon are nineteenth-century (rather than eighteenth-century), and thus cannot lend support to the identification of the two pastels as pendants.Revolution in Art . Sotheby's, New York. January 24, 2002, pp. 16–18, no. 54, ill. (color, framed and unframed), states that it was painted in 1730 or 1731, when Lord Boyne stayed several times in Venice during his Grand Tour.
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